Oldbury Tart is a traditional English recipe for a classic raised pie of gooseberries (originally wild) and Demerara sugar that was served at Whitsuntide. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic English version of: Oldbury Tart.
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The Oldbury Tart is a traditional recipe from Oldbury-on-Severn for a tart of wild gooseberries and demerara sugar that were sold at Whitsuntide fairs. There is no way that wild gooseberries were ripe at this time of year, so the originals must have been made with preserved gooseberries of some kind. This modern version, however, uses fresh gooseberries for the recipe.
Ingredients:
450g plain flour
100g lard
100g butter
140ml boiling water
700g fresh gooseberries, topped and tailed
4 dessert spoons Demerara sugar
1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp water, to glaze
Method:
Sift the flour into a bowl and form a well in the centre. Dice the lard and the butter into small pieces and add to the well you've just made. Pour the boiling water over the fat in the well and stir until both the lard and butter have melted. Now mix the water, lard and butter combination into the flour with a fork and then your fingers to form a soft dough.
Shape into a ball and take 2/3 of the dough (reserve the remainder). Turn the larger piece of dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll out so it's about 4mm thick. Cut out four 15cm diameter rounds from this pastry.
Now roll out the remaining 1/3 of the pastry and cut out a number of 10cm diameter circles. Divide the gooseberries between the large pastry rounds and mound in the centre before scattering 1 tbsp of the sugar over each. Cover with the smaller round then turn up the edges and pinch together to form a fluted rim (this is the traditional shape of these pies). Ensure that the edges between the two pastries are well sealed, or the sugar will leak out and burn.
Transfer to a lightly-greased baking tray then glaze with the egg wash place in an oven pre-heated to 220°C and bake for 10 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 20 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before serving.
